


Accusation

by GemNika



Series: 30 Drabbles [4]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Car Accidents, Drama & Romance, F/M, Forgetful Parent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 11:03:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16428152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemNika/pseuds/GemNika
Summary: When Laxus forgets about his daughter's recital, he's in a rush to get there before his wife realizes what he did. Can he make it in time, or will she correctly accuse him of being a forgetful father once again?





	Accusation

 

He closed the front door, frowning when only silence met him. He could smell the cleaning that had been done while he was at work - wood polish, the dust kicked up from the vacuum, that weird purple all-purpose cleaner she always used on the floors - and after kicking his shoes off and setting his briefcase down just inside the front door, he could see that the house was immaculate.

Everything was in its place. The only problem was that he couldn't smell anything cooking. It wasn't that he expected dinner to be on the table when he got home, or for his wife to have a glass of scotch at the ready once he walked in the door. Lucy was just a creature of habit, and this was about the time she would be cooking.

"Lucy," he called out, loosening his burgundy tie. She wasn't in the kitchen or dining room, not in the living room. He couldn't hear their sixteen-year-old daughter in her room either. The master bedroom was empty.

Maybe he'd forgotten something. With things at his grandfather's company being so hectic lately, between opening new orphanages across the country and having to contain the morons they'd so lovingly nicknamed Team Natsu, he'd become a little too prone to forgetting things around the house. If it wasn't in his calendar on both his computer and phone, and if his assistant Freed didn't know about it, then he was more likely to not remember it.

"Writing desk," he muttered, turning and taking long strides through the house to Lucy's office space in the corner of the living room. The top was cleared off, with even her computer put away, but he didn't care about that. Only the calendar hanging on the wall that she always used instead of saving it in the calendar on her damn phone like a normal human.

_Thursday, March 16th. Leann's Ballet Recital, 6:30_

"Fuck me."

Laxus looked down at his watch, cringing when he saw it was already nearly seven at night. He'd been caught in traffic, all thanks to some crash on the highway. If luck was on his side, he'd be able to make it to the recital before it was done.

It was while he was pulling his shoes back on and running out the door that Laxus pulled his vibrating phone from his breast pocket. He scowled at the sight of Freed's name on the screen, but answered it just the same. "Dreyar."

"Laxus, I hope you didn't forget about the recital." Freed's voice was hushed. Far too quiet.

"I wouldn't have if you'd reminded me, Freed."

"I reminded you before you left the office."

"Yeah, well some idiot flipped over the median on the highway," Laxus groaned, slamming the door and locking it. "I got distracted…"

"You should call Lucy," Freed sighed. "I'm sure she will be-" Laxus nearly laughed when his assistant huffed with irritation. "No, madam, excuse  _you_. The recital is  _delayed_ , which means I'm at liberty to speak on my phone, if I so choose. Which I do."

Laxus let out a sigh of relief at that news. Luck was most definitely on his side tonight. Maybe he could make it before it even started, and actually see the whole thing for a change. From what Lucy had told him, Leann was the lead. She was the beautiful swan in the nearly three hour production of Swan Lake.

"I'll be there in ten minutes," he said while getting into the car. "Just… Find Lucy and tell her I'm caught in traffic."

"If you don't have your briefcase with you, she'll know when you get home."

"Shit, Freed-"

"I will handle it, Laxus," Freed said, and he could hear the smile on his assistant's lips through the line. "Your grandfather asked you to bring a gift home for Leann, and you didn't realize you'd left it at the office until you got home. I will buy her something and give it to you at work in the morning."

"You're a fucking lifesaver," Laxus turned in his seat and started backing out of the driveway. "I'll see you soon." The line cut off and the sudden sound of a blaring horn caught his attention. Laxus turned back to look out of the driver window, his bright blue eyes widening against the glare of headlights flying toward him, moments before a pickup truck slammed into his car and sent it flying into the air and down the street.

* * *

"Laxus, I swear to god, you'd better call me back. And don't give me some lame excuse this time about why you're late!" Lucy scowled down at the phone as she hung up. She stood backstage with Leann and the other dancers who were warming up.

"Mom, is everything okay?"

"Daddy's not answering," she said. "He probably forgot again."

"He means well," Leann sighed. "Gramps said he's been working really hard lately. I think we can cut him some slack."

"Sure," Lucy said. "Except he promised to be here. Freed says he's on his way, but…" She paused and raised a brow at the odd number calling her. "Lucy Dreyar."

Leann frowned when her mother's face fell and went a startling shade of white. "Mom?"

"What do you mean, an accident?"

"Mom, what's going on?"

"I-I understand… Yes…" Lucy's eyes cut to her daughter, filling with tears faster than she could blink them away. "Sweetie, go find Freed. Now. It's… Y-Yes, I'm still here."

Leann didn't question why her mother turned away from her, or why she started talking faster while taking several steps away. Instead, she turned and rushed to the side of the stage and slipped out from behind the heavy red curtain, already searching for the familiar head of green hair of her father's assistant in the audience. She found him in the same spot he always sat - the very center with two empty seats to his left for her parents, the spot with the best acoustics in the whole auditorium.

"Oh, Leann, you look lovely!"

"Knock 'em dead, Leann!"

She ignored the other parents and guests, her eyes locked on Freed as he stood and rushed past the other seats to meet her in the aisle. "F-Freed, it's mom. I-I don't… She got a call and…"

He simply nodded, pressing his hand to her lower back and leading her down to the stage once again. Once they were backstage, the pair found Lucy sitting in a corner on the floor, curled up in a ball and clutching her phone in a deadly grip while she tried to keep her sobs silent.

"Lucy, what's happened?" Freed gasped, rushing forward and kneeling beside her.

"Hospital," she cried. "L-Laxus was… and… critical condition, and…"

"Wait," Leann said, "You mean Daddy got into an accident?" When Lucy simply nodded and let herself be wrapped in Freed's arms, Leann turned to find her dance instructor. It was one of the few times she was glad to be more like her father. It meant, just like him, she could take control and deal with the cracking in her heart when she had time to do it. "Mister Vijeeter, I have to go. Tell Carrie she can do it. She's my understudy for a reason."

* * *

"He should be waking up soon, Mrs. Dreyar," the nurse said. He gently rested a hand on Lucy's trembling shoulder, watching as she tenderly stroked her husband's fingers were they peeked out of his full arm cast. "He was very lucky."

Lucy nodded, blotting at the tears streaking down her cheeks. She hardly noticed the nurse leave. Instead, she stayed focused on the steady  _beep-beep-beep_  of the heart monitor just next to Laxus' bed. Thankfully, Makarov had come to the hospital and taken Leann to his house. Sure, she was old enough to be here and to understand why Laxus was in the ICU, but Lucy knew that her daughter wouldn't let herself feel a thing while she was at the hospital.

Just like her father, Leann had mastered bottling things up until she felt it was safe to deal with them. And thankfully, also like Laxus, the short old man who had taken her away from the hospital was her one weakness. If anyone could get Leann to just let herself react to this, it would be Makarov.

Lucy took a slow, shuddering breath as she looked to Laxus' swollen face, past the thick white brace the doctors had put around his neck to keep it steady. He wasn't paralyzed, they'd told her. A few broken bones - his left arm from the shoulder to his wrist was shattered, his left femur, a sprain in his right wrist - some cuts and scrapes from the glass on his hands, maybe whiplash. He'd been lucky, they'd said, that his seatbelt was on. She knew he was, because the car was totalled, completely crunched in on itself, and paramedics had to cut the thing open just to get her hulking husband out.

She was tempted to touch his cheek, the stitches running over the right side of his face, but Lucy held back.

He was lucky not to need a breathing tube. He was lucky there was no internal bleeding.

He was lucky that he'd even survived in the first place.

And she'd been so angry with him before getting that call from the hospital. She'd been so sure he'd forgotten again, and that he would miss their daughter's debut as the prima ballerina in her dance company's production. Sure, it was no Juilliard, but Leann loved dancing and every performance was important.

Laxus knew that. Lucy knew that he knew that. Because no matter how many times she happened to forget that he cared - usually when it came to his utter forgetfulness - Laxus was wholly devoted to his family. He tried, and damnit she wanted him to wake up so she could tell him just how much she loved him for being a wonderful father.

Freed had told her the truth when he'd stopped by, that Laxus really had forgotten all about the recital until he'd gotten home and found no one there. That he'd been so upset about possibly not making it to see Leann perform.

"Fuck…"

Lucy swiped away her tears and plastered on her best smile - though it really wasn't all that convincing, she knew - but his eyes stayed closed. She didn't blame him. One just wouldn't open with all the swelling in his face, and things like light in the room were a bitch when waking up after surgery. "Laxus…"

His fingers twitched in her hand, and she fought not to hold on tighter.

"Baby?"

"Right here," she sniffled.

"Tell me I'm not…" He groaned, the beeping of his heart monitor speeding up only slightly before calming again. "I'm okay?"

"Y-Yeah," she said. "You'll be okay. We're in the hospital."

"The dance?"

"Carrie took Leann's place," Lucy whispered.

"But she…"

"She cares more about you than being in Swan Lake. Gramps took her home after you got out of surgery." When his eye finally opened, Lucy had to fight not to cry. He looked so tired, so fragile. So unlike the man she'd fallen in love with well over twenty years prior, when they were still in high school.

"I forgot again," he whispered.

"I don't care about that," she said. Her hand lifted to his cheek, being careful not to touch the sutures. "And neither does she. All we care about is that you're alright."

"But I'm okay…"

"Yeah, handsome." She smiled while bringing her lips to his in a soft kiss and didn't move away when she spoke again. "You're okay."

_**.The End.** _


End file.
